1. The History of Theatre
I. Classic Greek Period- 500 B.C.
Origins
1. Theatre had its origins in religion
2. Honored Dionysus (God of wine) in a once-a-year competition
Architecture of the Greek Theatre
1. Orchestra - Actors performed in a circular space of hard packed dirt
Skene was built behind the orchestra; was designed as a changing
house
The Proscenium was the front wall of the skene; provided scenery;
painted/decorated (limited)

2. Orchestra was laid out at the foot of a hill; uncomfortable wooden benches were built into the side of
the hill for the audience
Seating could hold between 14,000-17,000 people
The Athenians built the first Theatre of Dionysus; parts mentioned above=natural amphitheater

4. Actors- wore masks so that the audience could see them better; there were only three actors in each performance
Chorus- commented on action; played minor parts; gave actors time to change between scenes
Example: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles (Greek tragedy)

5. II. Roman Theatre- 100 B.C.
Background Info.
1. Religious - worshipped Bacchus-Roman god of wine
2. 1st permanent playhouse built in 55 B.C.
(Pompey’s Theater)
3. Tragedies- hero fails; Seneca (playwright)
4. Comedies- hero succeeds; rough humor with sex,
swearing, insults (like an R-rated movie)

6. Roman Theatre Architecture
Based on Greek models
Huge, open-air theatres, which seated over 15,000
Actors stood on ground level or on stage,
5 feet above orchestra/ground level;
orchestra = perfect ½ circle

8. C. Roman Theatre Amenities
1. Stage often had a roof and an awning that could be stretched over the auditorium to cover audience from sun, rain, etc.
2. Romans cooled the audience by blowing air over streams of cool water.

9. III. The Medieval Stage 1400 A.D.
Plays in the Church
Catholic Church controlled the theatre;
used drama to teach
Liturgical drama-plays performed in churches by
clergy and choir boys for 300
years
. morality- teaches lessons/morals
. passion- acts out a story from the Bible

10. Plays outside The Church
Mansion staging – actors performed inside, in front of, or on either sides of a small wooden canvas construction (resembled booths at a fair)
Mansions – represented special areas such as Heaven and Hell and a number of Earthly spots in between; colorful and complex for their time
Wagon stages – one-story structure with a small loft; could travel from town to town easily

11. One wagon was decorated as the
background; action took place on the
flatbed of a second wagon
Audience grouped around 3 sides
of the playing area (mansion, wagon,
and area in front
To achieve technical effects called for by increasingly difficult scripts, the wagons had a loft for some type of “flying equipment”.
Wagons also had a trapdoor in the floor – trees could sprout up, fountains could gush, actors could appear and disappear

13. IV. Elizabethan Stage-1600 A.D.
First permanent theatres in England open-1576
The Theatre (public)- built by James Burbage
  Blackfriars Theatre (private)- main audience/
influence was Queen Elizabeth I and the Church  

14. 1. 1st theatres derived their shape from the inns
Architecture
 1. 1st theatres derived their shape from the inns
 a. stage at rear
 b. raised bleachers around perimeter of yard to
provide seating
c. flat area in front of stage = 1 cent seating
2. Plays were performed in the afternoon
(needed natural light); outside theaters with no roof
3. Thrust stage-audience on 3-4 sides of the stage

15. Actors and Audience
Boys played all of the parts; women were not allowed on stage
because acting was not respected by the Puritans.
  Groundlings- people who stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the
inner yard
  a. 800 at a time
  b. paid one penny to see the show
  c. would throw rotten food at the actors if they didn’t
like the show

16. William Shakespeare
Globe Theatre: rich sat in gallery around stage,
poor stood in pits
a. stage represented Earth
b. understage was Hell
c. balcony was Heaven
Wrote to make money: 14-line love poems called sonnets
 37 Plays, none published while he was alive
a. tragedy- Romeo and Juliet (hero fails/dies)
  b. comedy- Midsummer Night’s Dream (hero
  succeeds/gets married)
c. history King Henry VIII (history of the English kings)  

17. Wrote in Modern English; we can still understand the    language today
 Shakespeare’s Company = King’s Men

18. English Restoration – 1600s
Two men to RESTORE theatre – Thomas Killigrew and William Davenant
The English Royal Patent of 1662
Women were to perform female roles
Theatre is “useful and instructive”
Drury Lane and Convent Garden

19. Architecture Roofs closed in (scenery and stage mechanics)
Elaborate chandeliers
Orchestra moved to the front
Back wall allowed for scene changed
Audience level; stage raked (upstage and downstage

20. William Wycherly (The Country Wife)
Playwrights –
William Wycherly (The Country Wife)
William Congreve (The Way of the World)
George Farquhar (The Beaux’ Strategem)
Gilbert and Sullivan – Operas
The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore
Oscar Wilde – Plays
Importance of Being Earnest
George Bernard Shaw – Plays
Pygmalion
Most Famous Actor – David Garrick

21. V. Modern Theatre
The Proscenium-Arch Stage
Has an invisible division between the auditorium
(audience) and  stage (actors)
Proscenium - area of modern theatre located
between the curtain  and orchestra pit
Origin is open to debate (probably somewhere
around the 1800s)

22. 1. Curtain/proscenium- action had to be placed behind the
 Two ways the proscenium-arch separates the audience from the actors (the real from fantasy)
  1. Curtain/proscenium- action had to be placed behind the
opening; before, action took place in the midst of the
audience.
  2. Modern lighting- for the first time, audience in the dark,
actors in  light.
  3. Note: No matter how physically close the spectators
might be to  the action, a psychological barrier was set up.

23. Emphasis on realism
  1. Audience wanted a realistic spectacle;
 proscenium-arch provided a practical curtain that
 could be drawn to hide the changing of scenery.
  2. Technology/special effects

24. Birth of the musical, combination of:
  1. play
 2. ballet
 3. opera
  4. First musical = Oklahoma!

25. VI. Things to Remember
A. The play/dramatic ritual existed before special
structures were built to house them.
B. Playing areas (with at least some attendant
scenery and props) were developed early in
theatre prehistory based on content of dramas.